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AEW Dynamite
February 26, 2020

by Samoa Rowe

AEW Dynamite

From Silverstein Eye Centers Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. Our hosts are Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, and Excalibur (and later Tazz).

30 Minute Iron Man Match:
Pac vs. Kenny Omega (with The Young Bucks)

Hangman Page is conspicuous by his absence. They deliberately, but aggressively, trade holds early on. They trade some stiff shots and Pac hits a decapitation thrust kick. Pac blocks One Winged Angel but Omega backs him into the buckles to avoid a Brutalizer. Omega sends Pac to ringside and soars into a plancha. Kotaro Crusher gets 2. Rolling fireman's carry by Omega but he misses a moonsault. Omega looks crazed as he hits a Dragon suplex. Pac's moonsault is blocked so he counters into a tornado DDT on the floor. Pac muscles into an avalanche brainbuster, earning a "holy sh!t" chant. Pac's missile dropkick gets 2, as does a slingshot cutter. Crowd plays along as they trade shots. Pac hits a German, and Omega responds with stiff knee strikes and a Tiger Driver ‘98, but Pac kicks out! High angle German by Omega, but Pac kicks out again! V-Trigger, but Pac escapes a top rope One Winged Angel and hits a powerbomb! Omega flapjacks Pac onto the top buckle and nails a snap Dragon and V-Trigger, but PAC KICKS OUT AGAIN! Pac desperately grabs a chair and cracks it over Omega's head to eat a disqualification at 16:00! Pac is then able to hit a Black Arrow to score a fall at 17:18. Pac dominates throughout a commercial. Back from break, Omega hits a sick Falcon Arrow off the apron! The fans' "holy sh!t" chant gets censored. Pac then dropkicks Omega onto the ref and ringside doctor. Pac follows with a TOP ROPE SHOOTING STAR PRESS THROUGH A TABLE! Omega is nearly counted out but the Bucks help him in. Omega blocks Black Arrow! Pair of V-Triggers by Omega and a uranage variation only gets 2. Pac reverses One Winged Angel into a poison rana! Swinging DDT by Pac sets up the Brutalizer! Omega holds on and gets the ropes. Pac reapplies the Brutalizer with a minute remaining. Omega refuses to quit and the time expires at 30:00. Pac is irate and knocks down the referee. Justin Roberts gets the green light to restart the match under sudden death rules. Crowd chants for referee Aubrey Edwards as Omega lights Pac up with rapid stiff blows. The One Winged Angel finishes it at 31:00! They put on quite an epic here, with great pacing and some dramatic stunt bumps. It may have been a tad self-indulgent, but it got over with a very vocally appreciative crowd, so it all worked out, ****½.
Winner (2-1): Kenny Omega

Tony Shiavone interviews Pac about his big loss. Pac doesn't take kindly to Tony's question, and they are randomly interrupted by Orange Cassidy. Pac attacks and agents run in to break it up.

An interviewer knocks on the Painmaker Posse door for a word with Chris Jericho, but gets turned away by a silent Jake Hager.

The Inner Circle (Santana, Ortiz, and Sammy Guevara) vs. The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy, Marko Stunt, and Luchasaurus)

The JE get a hot start and clear the ring for a series of dives. Santana and Ortiz catch Stunt and back drop him onto JB. They follow with a double flapjack on Luchasaurus. Stunt comes back with a rana, but Ortiz catches him for Sammy's flying double stomp. The Inner Circle are in control in time for a commercial. Back from break, and they're still beating up Stunt. Luchasaurus gets the hot tag and cleans house with roundhouse kicks. Fossilizer on Sanatna and chokeslam on Ortiz, followed by a standing moonsault. Sammy's ambush goes nowhere as the JE triple team him with running kicks into the buckles. Stunt cuts Ortiz off with a flying rana, and Luchasaurus slams Sammy for a nearfall. Match totally breaks down, and JB gets swarmed. Sammy's running SSP needs a save from Stunt. Ring gets cleared so Luchasaurus can hit a moonsault off the apron. Sammy gets the sock full of baseballs, but Darby Allin runs in to steal it. That allows Jungle Boy to hit a snap rana to pin Sammy at 9:55! This was just as much fun as you'd expect, ***¼.
Winners: The Jurassic Express

Sammy charges at Darby, who backdrops him onto Santana and Ortiz. The stand-off continues through a commercial. Allin has some menacing cue cards, and implies that he may kill Guevara at Revolution.

Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent, with Orange Cassidy) vs. The Butcher and Blade (with The Bunny)

The Blade knocks Taylor off the apron as Butcher ambushes Trent. The Butcher and Blade swarm Trent and isolate him early. Fans chant for Best Friends after Blade catapults Trent gut-first off the ropes. Taylor gets a needed tag, and Trent helps him hit the Sole Food/Suplex combo. Butcher and Blade regain control during the commercial. The return just in time for Trent's hot tag, and he catches Blade with a swinging DDT. Blade blocks a dive and smashes him into the rail, but Trent pops up for a spear! The Bunny confronts Orange Cassidy in the ring, and the crowd loves it. Orange wants a test of strength, but the Bunny steals his shades instead. Cassidy blocks a low blow and steals her bunny ears and puts them on to a Stone Cold sized pop. Cassidy dodges Blade's ambush and hits a suicida on Butcher. Best Friends finish Blade with Storm Zero at 8:10. Pretty good match, but the real highlight was Cassidy goofing around, **½.
Winners: Best Friends

Tony Shiavone joins Best Friends in the ring to announce that Orange Cassidy will face Pac at Revolution. Taylor says that Best Friends are back on their winning ways, and Pac is in trouble, because at Revolution, Cassidy is going to "try." Crowd loves this. Cassidy gives the half-hearted thumbs up, so wherever he is, Pac better be shaking in his boots.

Yuka Sakazaki vs. Big Swole vs. Shanna vs. Hikaru Shida

Yuka is in good spirits for someone who got her tooth knocked out on her last appearance. She seems to mark out while watching her competitors hit quick attacks. The other 3 women get booed for triple teaming poor, lovable Yuka. Shanna, Swole, and Shida engage in a triple threat test of strength, and Yuka takes advantage with drive by attacks on all of them. Yuka continues to be a disruptive presence through a rapid pin attempt sequence. Shanna and Swole square off heading into commercial. They come back with Shida using Yuka to hit Shanna, and then suplexes Shanna onto Yuka in the buckles. Swole returns for some shine and nearly pins Shanna with a cutter. Shida catches Swole with a missile dropkick, but Yuka surprises with a low clothesline. Shanna slams Yuka for 2. Shanna hits a double knees on both Yuka and Shida. Swole drops Shanna with Dirty Dancing, but Shida catches her with a backbreaker. Yuka hits the Magical Girl Splash, but Shida slams her onto Swole for a good nearfall. Shida's running knee finishes Swole at 9:10! A true spotfest in every sense of the phrase, elevated by good pacing and endearing character work from Yuka, **½.
Winner: Hikaru Shida

Dark Order PSA. Evil Uno reveals that the Exalted One is near. They have orders to show SCU their true might at Revolution. They will prove Christopher Daniels to be "obsolete."

Jim Ross sits down with Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, and the Young Bucks to discuss their Tag Team Championship match at Revolution. Matt Jackson never imagined that Omega and Page would be the champions, but he's proud of them. J.R. thinks the Young Bucks are the best team in the world and questions why they haven't won the titles yet. Omega says the Bucks are the best, and inspire him (Page seems to groan at this). J.R. asks Page why he looks uncomfortable. Page denies, but Matt piles on, expressing displeasure at his drinking. Matt says all these guys are his best friends, but plans on competing at Revolution. Matt thinks he and Nick are the best and plan on winning the titles, but also plan on shaking hands when it's done. Page gets mad and says he tried to quit the Elite, and they wouldn't let him go. Nick says Page was a "jobber in Ring of Honor" and they saved him by bringing him into Bullet Club. Page is out of beer so he storms off.

Our main event segment is the Official Weigh In for Revolution. Gary Michael Cappetta debuts as a co-host, and they have a scale, officials, and scantily clad women. Jon Moxley is introduced first to a huge ovation, and he's still branding an eye patch. Crowd is more than ready to serenade Le Champion Chris Jericho and the Painmaker Posse to the ring. They walk down the aisle single file, with hands on shoulders, which seems to strange to me, but maybe this is a "real sports feel" thing that I don't know anything about since I don't really watch anything but wrestling and basketball. Cappetta asks Jericho to step on the scale first, but Jericho blames him for putting WCW out of business and says the Painmaker always goes last. Moxley weighs in at 234 pounds and looks ready for a fight. Jericho takes his sweet time removing his many accessories, which annoys the crowd, so he tells them to shut their "ass." Jericho might be a cool heel, but that line gets him booed. Jericho never actually gets weighed as a sudden brawl breaks out. Moxley managed to bust Jericho open the hard way before getting swarmed by the Inner Circle. Dustin Rhodes runs in to clothesline Hager out and they brawl into the concession area. Hager throws Dustin into a DIPPIN' DOTS cart. Meanwhile, Darby Allin runs in, but Guevara takes his skateboard and breaks it over his head. Moxley shakes off Santana and Ortiz and locks eyes with Jericho, and they start trading punches to a huge reaction. Santana prevents a Paradigm Shift, and Jericho hits the Judas Effect before stealing the Paradigm Shift onto the scale! Jericho stands tall over the carcass of Moxley! This is one of the better "go home" segments I've seen in a good long time.

Final Thoughts: AEW keeps cooking with a great go-home show before an intriguing PPV.

Final Thoughts: Dynamite is now firing on all cylinders. This was a complete joy from start to finish.

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